Twin bombings claimed by Islamic State kill dozens in Syria's Homs

Twin car bomb blasts killed at least 57 people in Syria's Homs on Sunday, a monitoring group said, in an attack claimed by Islamic State.

At least 100 others were injured in the attack in the central Zahra district of the western city, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Footage from pro-Damascus television channels showed charred corpses buried by rubble, damage to shop fronts and debris littering a wide area. Plumes of smoke rose from burning cars and wounded people walked around dazed.

Click through images from the Syria bombings here:

11PHOTOS

Twin bombings claimed by Islamic State kill dozens in Syria's Homs

See Gallery

Twin bombings claimed by Islamic State kill dozens in Syria's Homs

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian citizens gather at the scene where two blasts exploded in the pro-government neighborhood of Zahraa, in Homs province, Syria, Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016. Two blasts in the central Syrian city of Homs killed more than a dozen people and injured many others in the latest wave of violence to hit the city in recent weeks, state TV said. (SANA via AP)

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian citizens gather at the scene where two blasts exploded in the pro-government neighborhood of Zahraa, in Homs province, Syria, Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016. Two blasts in the central Syrian city of Homs killed more than a dozen people and injured many others in the latest wave of violence to hit the city in recent weeks, state TV said. (SANA via AP)

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian citizens gather at the scene where two blasts exploded in the pro-government neighborhood of Zahraa, in Homs province, Syria, Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016. Two blasts in the central Syrian city of Homs killed more than a dozen people and injured many others in the latest wave of violence to hit the city in recent weeks, state TV said. (SANA via AP)

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian citizens gather at the scene where two blasts exploded in the pro-government neighborhood of Zahraa, in Homs province, Syria, Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016. Two blasts in the central Syrian city of Homs killed more than a dozen people and injured many others in the latest wave of violence to hit the city in recent weeks, state TV said. (SANA via AP)

Syrians inspect the damage at the site of a double car bomb attack in the Al-Zahraa neighborhood of the central Syrian city of Homs on February 21, 2016.
Homs city is almost completely controlled by the Syrian government, and has regularly been targeted in bomb attacks.
/ AFP / STRINGER (Photo credit should read STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images)

TOPSHOT - Syrians gather at the site of a double car bomb attack in the Al-Zahraa neighbourhood of the central Syrian city of Homs on February 21, 2016.
Homs city is almost completely controlled by the Syrian government, and has regularly been targeted in bomb attacks.
/ AFP / STRINGER (Photo credit should read STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images)

TOPSHOT - Syrians gather at the site of a double car bomb attack in the Al-Zahraa neighbourhood of the central Syrian city of Homs on February 21, 2016.
Homs city is almost completely controlled by the Syrian government, and has regularly been targeted in bomb attacks.
/ AFP / STRINGER (Photo credit should read STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images)

Syrian firefighters spray water on burning car at the site of a double car bomb attack in the Al-Zahraa neighborhood of the central Syrian city of Homs on February 21, 2016.
Homs city is almost completely controlled by the Syrian government, and has regularly been targeted in bomb attacks.
/ AFP / STRINGER (Photo credit should read STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images)

A picture taken on February 21, 2016 shows damaged cars at the site of a double car bomb attack in the Al-Zahraa neighborhood of the central Syrian city of Homs.
Homs city is almost completely controlled by the Syrian government, and has regularly been targeted in bomb attacks.
/ AFP / STRINGER (Photo credit should read STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images)

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian citizens gather at the scene where two blasts exploded in the pro-government neighborhood of Zahraa, in Homs province, Syria, Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016. Two blasts in the central Syrian city of Homs killed more than a dozen people and injured many others in the latest wave of violence to hit the city in recent weeks, state TV said. (SANA via AP)

Up Next

See Gallery

Discover More Like This

of

SEE ALL

BACK TO SLIDE

SHOW CAPTION
+

HIDE CAPTION
–

State television said at least 32 people had been killed.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the two car bombs through Amaq, a news agency that supports the militant group.

A bomb attack claimed by Islamic State last month in Homs killed at least 24 people as government forces took back some Islamic State-held villages in Aleppo province in the north.

Sunday's attacks also came a day after government advances against Islamic State.

A bomb attack killed 32 people in Homs in December after a ceasefire deal paved the way for the government to take over the last rebel-controlled area of the city, which was a center of the 2011 uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

Violence rages on unabated across the country as world powers and the United Nations push to end the five-year-old conflict, meeting in Geneva to try to broker a ceasefire.

Peace talks were suspended almost immediately earlier this month as Syrian government forces and their allies, backed by Russian air strikes, intensified assaults against insurgents in Aleppo province.

The latest fighting in the north of the country has displaced tens of thousands of people, many of whom headed for the Turkish border. The exodus added to more than 11 million already displaced by the conflict, which has claimed 250,000 lives.